by 1967, the most massive single program dealing with illiteracy to date had been developed within the Canada Manpower Training Program, a federal government initiative primarily aimed at alleviating poverty and unemployment. Since, the inception of the program, many thousands of Canadian adults have received academic upgrading in preparation for job training or direct entry into the labour force. 10

The theoretical perspective which informed and guided the incorporation of literacy and basic education in anti-poverty programs during what became Canada's own "war on poverty" has become so widespread and frequently repeated that it has acquired a commonsensical, "taken for granted" quality, even among laymen. It was first formulated and articulated by economists, sociologists, educators and others in the early 1960's.11 In its simplest form, it hypothesizes that there is a direct causal link between lack of basic education and poverty, i.e. that lack of basic education is one of the most important obstacles preventing adults from achieving adequate employment and income, and that this explains much of the observed poverty and unemployment in Canada. Based on this reasoning, it is suggested that literacy and basic education constitute a particularly effective anti-poverty strategy.

This point of view can be called the liberal perspective on illiteracy, indicating its close relationship to liberal welfare state doctrine, which argues for the necessity and desirability of government action to compensate for the social consequences of "imperfections" in the capitalist economy. It has been influential not only in facilitating government involvement in literacy and basic education for adults, but also in shaping the programs in distinctive ways, particularly their emphasis on occupational preparation and their technocratic "skill acquisition" approach to methods and content.

Crisis

The liberal perspective has been extremely important in that it has provided the principal theoretical and practical basis for public action with regard to adult illiteracy for over two decades. However, with the onset of a severe and chronic economic crisis in Canada and other capitalist nations in 1974, the consensus around liberal welfare state policies has been seriously eroded.12 Liberal fiscal and monetary policies have been unable to check the problem of "stagflation", and existing anti-poverty and anti-unemployment programs have proved incapable of containing its effects. The entire liberal 'educational solution' to poverty, including the liberal perspective on illiteracy, has come under attack by academics and political and economic elites.13 This criticism, coupled with a fiscal crisis in government revenues, has resulted in serious cutbacks in the already inadequate funding of academic upgrading under the Canada Manpower program. For example, those with 4 or fewer years of schooling are no longer eligible for training.14 As well, funding for many new and existing literacy and basic education programs is in jeopardy across Canada. 15